Youth Symphony of DuPage performs dance music

The Youth Symphony of DuPage will take stage for its fall concert, “A Step in Time: The Sounds of Movement,” Nov. 18 at Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center in Naperville.

The Youth Symphony of DuPage will take stage for its fall concert, “A Step in Time: The Sounds of Movement,” Nov. 18 at Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center in Naperville. (Youth Symphony of DuPage)

You’ll want to get up and dance when the Youth Symphony of DuPage performs its fall concert, “A Step in Time: The Sounds of Movement,” at 3 p.m. Nov. 18 at Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center in Naperville.

“We sing to music, and we dance to music,” said Dr. Mark Liu, conductor and music director of the Youth Symphony of DuPage. “Our fall concert celebrates dance steps featured in popular symphonic dance music written by well-known Romantic composers.”

The Youth Symphony of DuPage actually is composed of three different ensembles. The Concert Orchestra will perform “Russian Sailors Dance” from Russian composer Reinhold Gliere’s ballet “The Red Poppy.”

The Symphony Orchestra will perform a set of dance pieces from “Carmen” by French composer Georges Bizet. The Sinfonietta Strings will perform selections of “Romanian Folk Dances” by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok.

“My goal is always to challenge our young and talented musicians with music pieces that are both technical and beautiful,” Liu said. “Pieces that can connect musicians to humanity, and at the same time, draw them closer to deeper personal revelations.”

The three ensembles then will join forces and conclude the program with “Emperor Waltz” by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II.

“The music is definitely the most challenging part of the concert,” Liu said.

“We have a very limited number of rehearsals to learn quite a large set of pieces with varying musical styles and technical demands.”

Bringing the young musicians — who come from all over DuPage and beyond — together both geographically and musically requires quite a commitment.

“These students must learn to sound unified as one cohesive symphony orchestra in a short amount of time,” said Liu, who is also currently the orchestra director at Metea Valley High School in Aurora. “I am so proud of what our musicians have achieved so far, and we are excited to share the fruit of our labor with the audience.”

He emphasizes that the concerts are about the audience as well.

“Each concert is an opportunity for (the symphony) to offer a spiritual gift to our supportive and loving community, through which the spirits and souls may escape reality and experience a brief moment of solace and joy,” said Liu, who is also orchestra division president-elect of the Illinois Music Education Association.

With members ranging from fifth graders to high school seniors, the Youth Symphony of DuPage is now in its 56th season.

“We originally formed in 1963 to provide young musicians opportunities to train and perform with advance music and to expand their musical and social perspectives while performing for our community with the advanced classical repertoire,” said Kay Burdi, president of the symphony’s board of directors.

“The musicians are carefully selected from two auditions (spring and fall auditions) each season with requirements of many years on their instrument with private instruction and playing with proficiency for advanced orchestral performance.”

The 129 young musicians come from 52 area high schools, middle schools and elementary schools — all from 28 different towns in five surrounding counties (DuPage, Cook, Will, Kane and McHenry).

“These young musicians are committed to given timelines, rigorous weekly rehearsals and perform three concerts at Wentz Concert Hall,” Burdi said. “The season starts in September and ends in April.”